Pilots traced to CIA renditions
The Times identifies three fliers facing kidnapping charges in Germany related to a 2003 counter-terrorism mission.
By Bob Drogin and John Goetz
Special to The Times

February 18, 2007

CLAYTON, N.C.  The forecast called for heavy snow on the route home, so the three pilots who had just flown a covert CIA-sponsored "extraordinary rendition" flight were forced to stay an extra night at the Gran Melia Victoria, a luxury hotel overlooking the marina on the island of Majorca.

Up in Room 552, the pilot who called himself Capt. James Fairing picked up the phone at 2:28 in the afternoon and dialed his tree-shaded home in a subdivision carved out of pine forests here in Clayton, about 15 miles southeast of Raleigh. He also called his employer, a North Carolina-based air charter service that long has worked for the CIA.

Fairing's copilot, who registered as Eric Matthew Fain, reached for the phone in his room and called a woman back home with whom he owns a 22-foot speedboat and who also flies missions for the CIA. The third pilot from the stranded flight carried a U.S. passport issued to Kirk James Bird. The passport photo shows a balding, middle-age man with a broad smile.

The names they used were all aliases, but The Times confirmed their real identities from government databases and visited their homes this month after a German court in January ordered the arrest of the three "ghost pilots" and 10 other alleged members of the CIA's special renditions unit on charges of kidnapping and causing serious bodily harm to Khaled Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, three years ago.
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As someone who needs help on occassion, I thought the article was about illegal behavior by the CIA in another nation... and the legal ramifications.
Those things WERE in the article, weren't they?

What does Italy have to do with Plame? Reporters report. Italy seems like THEY broke the story... and was Plame violating some law? These guys were.

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way to read and explain the obvious...

Also... The Times... any idea where that institution is based? Any reason why they should refrain from identifying people who break European law? Or is it now against international law to reveal the identities of US opperatives? The way Bush thinks, I wouldn't be surprised.

And... The next line in the article, right after where it was cut, says that The Times only revealed the aliases of these clowns. Looks like for all the non-similarities with the Plame case, "the media" in this case was actually somewhat discreet.

that the media is a bunch of hypocrites by exposing the identity of these CIA agents while complaining about Valeri Plame who was not undercover.

Atleast thats what I gathered. Perhaps K had some other reason.

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Sorry, but Valerie Plame was operating under Non-Official Cover. She had served outside the US under NOC status between 1998 and 2002, thus she was covered under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. It was for this reason that the Department of Justice was sent a letter on 30 July 2003 stating that:
<blockquote>the CIA reported to the Criminal Division of DoJ a possible violation of criminal law concerning the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.</blockquote>
This action was taken as the CIA was uncertain as to whether or not Robert Novak's disclosure of her name as a CIA officer was intentional. That determination was to be made by the FBI.

Sorry, but Valerie Plame was operating under Non-Official Cover. She had served outside the US under NOC status between 1998 and 2002, thus she was covered under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

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Looks like Bully feels that this lie has been dormant long enough that he can resurrect it, and maybe even get people to believe it if they've forgotten the truth by now.

Of course, Joe Wilson himself wrote that he and his wife had both returned from overseas assignments in 1997, and that neither had gone on any clandesitne trips overseas since then.

Plame had not gone outside the US for any longterm clandestine operations for more than five years before her identity was supposedly "outed". But people desperate for anything to hurl at Republicans, won't let such inconvenient facts stop them.

Plame had not gone outside the US for any longterm clandestine operations for more than five years before her identity was supposedly "outed". But people desperate for anything to hurl at Republicans, won't let such inconvenient facts stop them.

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The facts are the facts. Simply because those facts do not coincide with your version of reality does not make them otherwise. Valerie Plame WAS on NOC status. She DID travel outside the country, repeatedly, pursuant to her duties with the non-proliferation division. The CIA filed the DoJ request for an investigation BECAUSE her status had been compromised. The front operation, Brewster Jennings & Associates, had to be rolled up because her identity was compromised. As a result, US security in relation to the illicit and illegal transfer of nuclear technology and fissile materials was compromised.

Those are the facts, deal with them as you will, or not. In your case, the choice is readily apparent. Dismissed.

Poor bully. So many allegations, so few references or backup cites. None, in fact.

One wonders when he's going to call Joe Wilson and tell him he's wrong about where his wife has been for the last five (now seven) years. And whether he'll offer Joe the same amount of "proof" he has here.

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